BENGALURU: Leaving nothing to chance, the government is gearing up for contingencies especially with regard to availability of ventilators should Covid-19 spread and the number of infected cases spike.

At a video-conference with deputy commissioners from across the state on Monday, CM BS Yediyurappa was told of the need for more ventilators in Bidar and Vijayapura districts. “We are taking measures to supply more ventilators,” Yediyurappa said.

Doctors say infected patients, especially the old and vulnerable, are put on ventilators if they develop respiratory complications, which makes the availability of a sufficient number of ventilators crucial. The issue was discussed by officials of health and family welfare department, but stakeholders differed on the number of ventilators that can be set aside for Covid-19-related contingences.

While Karnataka has an estimated 1,200 ventilator beds across government and private hospitals in the state, about 700 of them are in Bengaluru alone, officials who met recently to discuss Covid-19 preparedness said. Roughly half of these ventilators are in private hospitals.

“Not more than 10% of available ventilators in private hospitals can be used for Covid-19 patients. The remaining will be needed by patients in other medical emergencies,” said a top doctor from the state.

A source in the private healthcare sector said, “A hospital with 200 beds will have a 24-bed ICU facility. Of that, usually, not more than 12 are equipped with ventilators. About 5-6% of a corporate hospital’s beds have ventilators.”

However, Dr Prakash Kumar, joint director, communicable diseases, health and family welfare department said plans are afoot to ensure 273 ventilators are available across different Bengaluru hospitals, including private hospitals. The authorities also have another problem vis-a-vis using ventilators in Covid-19 cases. “Once a ventilator is used for a Covid-19 patient, it can’t be used immediately for any other patient. So we need ventilators exclusively for Covid-19 patients,” Kumar said.

Dr PG Girish, director of medical education, said, “We need at least two ventilators in each government medical college for Covid-19. Besides, if the need arises, we will have to stop elective surgeries and allow only emergency surgeries. That way we can free up 50% of ventilators across the city.” He said there are minimum 300 ventilators in Bengaluru for medical colleges alone.

“None of the five Covid-19 positive patients currently being treated in the city’s two government hospitals need an ICU or a ventilator,” said top officials TOI spoke to. “But they are all patients below the age of 50 and are responding to treatment. As part of the state’s preparedness, what we need is a hospital with at least 200 ICU beds that can be used only for emergency cases of Covid-19. The state is yet to prepare for such a situation.”

A control room, run by the department of health and family welfare, is being established at Vikas Soudha. An IPS officer on probation will be overall in-charge.

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